"I'm drawing a line in the fucking sand. Do not read the Latin!"

Since I cannot say too much about The Cabin in the Woods without spoiling the movie, I have decided to combine this post with my overdue review of The Hunger Games.

I usually stay away from horror films at all costs. I do not like being scared and, while I can usually deal with the gore, I am more likely to close my eyes than watch someone's throat being slit or guts cut out of them. It is for this reason that I was initially hesitant to see The Cabin in the Woods. However, knowing that it was written by Joss Whedon and hearing all the great reviews it was getting, I figured I had to give it a try. I am happy to report that it was totally worth it and that this movie was fantastic!

To simplify the plot, and without giving anything away, this movie is about five friends who go into the woods to spend the weekend at one of their cousin's cabins. Unfortunately, things do not end up the way they planned. The acting was great, especially from Fran Kranz, Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins, and the writing was exactly what you would expect from Whedon. It was clever, yes, scary in certain parts, but also extremely funny. To quote director, Drew Goddard you go "from high drama to high comedy, from horror to sadness to silliness. And often in the same scene."

If you plan to see this movie, and I highly recommend that you do, I would see it in theaters, if only to avoid any spoilers that might come out and ruin it if you wait too long.

And now, my long awaited opinion of The Hunger Games :o)

Even though I swore I would not go see The Hunger Games opening weekend, I did anyway. After reading all my friends' posts on Facebook and Twitter about the film, I decided I could not wait and ended up seeing it on Sunday morning of that weekend. My initial reaction to the movie was that I really enjoyed it. I left the theater satisfied and looking forward to the next installment. However, after thinking about it some more and talking it over with friends who had also seen it, I realized that I did have some issues.

There are a few spoilers, so if you have not yet seen the movie, proceed with caution.....

"Never forget where you came from."

Bright and early tomorrow morning, I am leaving for a week to go on a mission trip to Belize with my church. I am, therefore, posting my Weekend Movie Preview a day early and will be out of touch until next Thursday. I may be updating our church blog from there, however I will not know for sure what kind of internet access I will have until I get down there. If you are interest, I have included the links to the blog and the organization with which we will be working at the bottom of the page.

The three big movies coming to theaters this weekend are: Our Idiot Brother, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and Colombiana

Colombiana is about a girl named Cataleya Restrepo who is raised by her uncle to be an assassin. When she grows up, she seeks revenge on the Colombian drug lord who killed her parents. It stars Zoe Saldana, Michael Vartan, Cliff Curtis and Jordi Molla. The trailer looks pretty bad ass, but I have not yet seen many reviews. My guess would be that the fight scenes are pretty cool but the storyline is weak, as with similar movies. I could be wrong, but even if I were going to be around this weekend, I would still probably wait to see it.

Trailer #1
Colombiana at MOVIECLIPS.com

"Darling, I don't know how to tell you this, but there's a Chinese family living in our bathroom."

I haven't been in the mood yet to watch Coraline.

The other night I went to the Bryn Mawr Film Institute to see (500) Days of Summer with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. A quirky romantic comedy that starts with an author's note:

"The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Especially you Jenny Beckman.

Bitch."

I thought it was super cute and everyone should definitely see it. Towards the end it started to drag just a little bit but then it pulled together to finish and was ultimately a very sweet movie.

The main topic was a little different than your typical romantic comedy, which I liked. It wasn't: boy meets girl, they fall in love, something happens to derail their romance but they eventually end up together. It was more like (spoiler alert): boy meets girl, girl doesn't believe in love but boys fall in love anyways, girl ends things and boy is devastated, girl starts dating someone else, sees what boys was talking about but just didn't feel with him and eventually gets married, boy is even more devastated but moves on and meets someone new.

I liked it because like most other romantic comedies it was not completely predictable. There was even a fun dance number, which is a plus in my book :o)

I also cheated on Netflix and rented 17 Again last night OnDemand. I have it in my queue, but it is apparently very popular because, despite it being on the top of my list since it was released, I have not received it.

It was definitely not an Oscar-worthy movie, but it was definitely funny. As my friend Jeanne says, "I think it's illegal for me to think Zac Efron is charming and cute" .... Hunter Parrish too :o)

I would go into a more detailed review, but I really can't out-do Elizabeth Banks.

So I will simply say this...

I had some fundamental issues with some parts of it - like why Leslie Mann spent so much time alone with Zac Efron, regardless of the fact that he "looked just like her ex-husband," no mother should be alone that much with her high school-aged son's best friend, it's just weird. - and the ending left things with his kids unresolved, but overall, I thought it was a very entertaining movie.

Thank you for continuing with me on this journey through my Netflix queue and, as always, please feel free to comment below. I would LOVE to hear your thoughts...about my thoughts :o)

I hope everyone had a FABulous Labor Day Weekend!
xoxo
c

Movies in Queue: 223